HOW MANY TIMES IS KIAMAT?

2006

"Aliya, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what is it?"
I had visited Shanti (not her real name), a devoted Hindu, in her hostel room after lectures.
Shanti looked at me, paused and in a serious tone asked, "You Muslims believe in Kiamat, right. So when is Kiamat?"
I was taken aback. Now how do I answer this question?

"Well, Kiamat will happen one day. And when it happens, all of us will be judged by God, our Creator on what we did during our lives on earth. The good ones will be able to go to heaven or syurga, while the sinful ones will be sent to hell or neraka. Of course, in Islam those who believe in Allah and follow His teachings will be the selected ones for heaven, provided that they live as good Muslims."

"What will happen during Kiamat?"
I tried to recollect my thoughts and remeber what I had learned.
"Oh, according to the Quran all of us will be gathered at a place called padang masyar. Even the dead ones will be woken up to be judged. All our good deeds and sins will be judged accordingly and justly by God. "
"Even the dead? "
"Yes, even the dead. No one can escape from judgement during Kiamat."

"How about those who died without being found,
or those who have been cremated? How are they going to rise?"
"Well, they will because God is great and powerful. You are looking at it from the view of a normal human being. To us, what's dead is dead. But if God can create something great like a human being from the soil, surely it is easy for Him to wake up the dead on Judgement Day or Kiamat."

"I see. But does Kiamat really exists?"
"Muslims believe in Kiamat. That's when all your actions, thoughts and deeds on earth will be accounted for. Even a deed as small as a mustard seed will be weighed and rewarded accordingly. "
"But I'm not a Muslim."
"That doesn't excuse you from being judged on Kiamat. The Holy Quran says that everyone, believers and non-believers will be judged."
"But I heard that some Malays claim that they will go to heaven for being Muslims."
"That's for Him to decide. In the Quran it's written that only those specially selected by Him who will go straight to heaven. Others, even Muslims, have to wait until Kiamat. That's why we strive to perform good deeds and avoid doing anything bad."
Shanti nodded her head.

"So, how many times is Kiamat ?"
"Only once in this world. Kiamat means the end of the world as we know. That's when everything else cease to exist. The mountains will shake, the sun will rise from the west, among other things. It's all foretold in the Quran. You can read it in a translation of the Quran."

I remembered reading about reincarnation which Buddhists and some Taoists believe in. According to Buddhism, when people die, they will be judged before the Creator for their deeds on earth. If they did too many bad deeds, they'll be reborn as animals, the lowliest being insects and creppy worms. Others will be given another chance to be better and reborn as human beings, while a selected few would have reached nirvana, or the state of being a Buddha, and will not suffer the fate of being reborn. The really evil ones will be sent to one of the seven levels of hell where they will be continously tortured.

I do wonder if Shanti's concept of Kiamat had been like Buddhism, whereby when you die, you are immediately judged. That will explain her odd question of 'How many times is Kiamat'.
It's interesting to note that all main religions in the world believe in Judgement Day; the difference is how judgement is done and what happens to the souls of the dead.